Shepherd's Rod

The Shepherd's Rod was a Seventh-day Adventist denomination which was founded by Victor Houteff in 1929. Also known as the "Davidians" due to their reverence of the "golden age" of Judaism under King David, the movement split from the Adventist movement after more predictions of Jesus' imminent coming failed. The group founded a compound in Waco, Texas known as "Mount Carmel", and it grew to have 100,000 followers worldwide during the 1950s. Houteff's death in 1955 led to the fracturing of his movement, and one of the most infamous new groups was the Branch Davidians, which was nearly annihilated in the 1993 Waco siege.